Why Your Shoulder Still Hurts | Upward Rotation w/ Program FOR trainers

Shoulder pain? Become a SUF-STM soft tissue mobilization with access to the Prehab Guys Exercise Library to charge more as a personal trainer.

Shoulder pain during overhead training isn’t just a “tight muscle” problem, and it definitely isn’t fixed by tossing random stretches at it. We break down scapular upward rotation in plain coaching terms, starting with a simple client screen: hands overhead, cross-body scapula touch, behind-the-back position, and quick strength checks that tell you when to refer out to a DPT. If you’re a personal trainer or lifter who keeps feeling that annoying pinch or shrugging every rep, this gives you a safer, smarter starting point.

From there, we get specific about the upward rotators of the scapula: upper trapezius, lower trapezius, and serratus anterior. We explain what each muscle contributes, why the upper traps tend to “turn on” first, and how that timing issue can create compensation during pressing and pulling. Instead of trying to eliminate upper traps, we coach synchronization so serratus and lower traps share the load and your overhead mechanics stop falling apart.

We also show how we organize shoulder pain training with a repeatable sequence: soft tissue mobilization, mobility, one to two stability drills, then real strength work. We talk through warm-ups like foam roller push-ups for protraction, pressing choices like the landmine press for cleaner upward rotation, and how to pair pushes and pulls without gassing the exact muscles you need to keep the first press honest. We even cover using a prehab exercise library to assign homework that clients will actually follow.

If you want better shoulder health, better overhead pressing, and a plan you can run today, listen now, share this with a training partner, and subscribe and leave a review with your biggest shoulder pain question.

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Transcript

Quick Shoulder Pain Screening

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Belt buckle trainer helping you with shoulder pain. Today in class, we were talking about upward rotation. You're gonna screen your client first. You're gonna work with getting your hands above your head. Can you cross the opposite hand and touch the scapula and get the humerus above the midline? Can you take your hand off the back? And then doing a break test either down here or up here. If any of those are positive, you refer out to your team DPT because you should have one, and that's what makes you a qualified personal trainer.

Meet The Upward Rotators

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Let's take a look at the upward rotators of the scapula. We're gonna look at the upper trapezius, lower trapezius, as well as the serratus today. So when you get to your SUF CPT, you have to know where the 17 muscles are. When you level up and get into the soft tissue course, which is level two, you need to know the muscles that move those 17 actions: eight of the scapula, nine of the humerus. So we're gonna take a look at those upward rotators, but first I want to give a little credit to Miss Ellie. She went to our Toronto hands-on learning seminar. She made some really great clip art, and that's what we were looking at before. So we have the upper traps, the lower traps, as well as the serratus anterior, which you can't really see from the posterior side. So the upper traps are going to originate on this external protuberance of the occipital bone, it's the

Why Upper Traps Take Over

SPEAKER_00 1:16

knots on the back of your head. And that's going to come down to roughly C7, and it's going to insert into the lateral third of the clavicle, also the acromium process. So the lower traps are going to originate on T5. So there's one, that first red notch, two, three, four, and five, all the way down to T12. And it's going to insert into this root of the spine, right where that little metal thing is. And then we have the stratus anterior, which can be on the front side, ribs one through roughly nine. It's going to insert into the medial and also inferior angle of the scapula. Works with protraction as well, which is really important when we look at the STM protocol, soft tissue mobilization. We typically want to start with getting into the muscle that's going to be the most tonic. So the upper trapezi studies have looked at more prone to being lightened up or engaged. That motor unit recruitment is going to go to the upper traps first, and then, like lights in your room, when you turn it on, you get some flickering. Upper traps are going to turn on first and then the lower in the serratus. So we want to synchronize that. That motor unit synchronization is really important when we're pulling or when we're pressing overhead, specifically with

Using Prehab Guys For Homework

SPEAKER_00 2:26

upward rotation. So let's take a look at the prehab guys app. And this is something that you get within the level two certification. Prehab guys are our partners. They have an amazing exercise library. Then we're going to show you how to optimize that within your CCA for your clients who have shoulder discomfort. So you can log in there, and then you would type in shoulder pain, serratus anterior. They film these at our gym here in Santa Monica. So let's take a look at the serratus A T-U-S, and they're going to give you a bunch of exercises that if you wanted to email to your clients, it's one of the great benefits and perks of this program is you send it to your clients for the homework because most of our clients are not going to do that. So when they come in, you're going to have soft tissue. Which serratus exercise are you going to choose? I just love the creativity behind these because also you're going to get explanation from a physical therapist telling you why they're doing this.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

So you see how I'm going to have to spread the band using those muscles. And then the weight, the weight in my hand is just going to pull me down. So as I'm here, I keep tension, then I push out, and then slowly return. Keep tension in my shoulders the entire time. So again, I'm going out, I'm not allowing my posture to round.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

So if you wanted to send this to your client, you put add exercise, you create the program over here, you send it to them for their homework.

Warm-Ups And Serratus Drill Picks

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Some of my favorite warm-ups, and you can go to our YouTube show up, Fitness. I have tons of shorts, shorts like this, that are going to give you shoulder pain variations. I love foam roller push-ups because you get that protraction. And also when you go into a downward dog, it's firing up the upper traps and lower traps as well as the serratus. We don't want to ignore the upper traps, they're just taking over for a lot of that movement. So we still want to overload them, and that's what we're going to do with the rest of the core patterns. So you can do your soft tissue first, and then you're going to get into one or two correctives, usually

Building A Shoulder Friendly Workout

SPEAKER_00 4:26

starting with mobility and then stability, and then you'd get into your workout. After that, warm-up in the soft tissue, we get into the first CCA. I love the landmine press, great for upper rotation. As a trainer, I'm walking around my client, making sure they're not driving through the upper traps. Complement that with a pull, we'll do some chin-ups. And then let's do some planks or some type of accessory here. Nothing too crazy. I don't want to compromise the tension for that first press. If I were to do a waterberry hold, the second version, which we'll do down here, you're going to really gas out that mid-back and you're probably going to experience some movement compensation. So do an ab exercise there or an accessory isolation that's not going to compromise that first C. Moving into the second circuit, let's do a pull for an Aussie and then a push into a push-up. Great agonist antagonistic actions there for the chest and the back. And then let's add in one of those prehab exercises in there. Again, we have tons on our YouTube within the shorts, also within the SUF STM program for the level two. That last circuit, let's do a transitional lateral jumps, and let's get into a safety bar squat, a lot more shoulder friendly. And then let's complement it by the end by doing some of those waterberry holds, the second one. So your elbows are gonna be in line with your ears while you are pressing, protracting your scapules. You are on the ground in a prone position. And at the end of the workout, this will take you about 55 minutes if you wanted to do a soft tissue again to get them feeling better so they can go out and tackle the day. And then I'm gonna text my clients on a regular basis. Make sure to do your homework because the core movement patterns are now optimized because you've addressed the compensations

Coaching Philosophy And Key Takeaways

SPEAKER_00 6:10

within the STM. And that's the biggest difference with our certification for the level two versus other ones that are out there. They give you just random exercises. You're gonna static stretch, you're gonna foam roll your adductor magnus because that's always overactive, but you don't have a why behind it. So within our course, we work with physical therapists. We have weekly calls with myself and therapists who can help you better understand pain within the biocycle social model, but also the best exercises and soft tissue mobilizations to get your clients out of pain so they can get through the workout and keep on showing up because that's what we know gets them into the best shape. Consistency over the best perfect exercise. Everything upward rotation summarized with the upper traps, lower traps, serratus anterior, getting into the soft tissue, mobilize some mobility drills, and then one stability or two stability drills. Then you would get into the CCA. And this is what a full body workout would look like for someone who had shoulder discomfort, but trying to focus more on upper body. But again, it's full body because we're incorporating lower body patterns in that last CCA. Remember, big biceps are better than small ones, and keep showing up.